Public Redemption
by The Forgotten Nobody
Summary: Oh. Oh dear. Maybe this is why Tony told Peter to stay away from Loki. He's actually sympathising with the God. He wants to help Loki the same way he helped that duckling that got stuck in a drain. "I'll show you my web fluid," Peter says decidedly. "And then, we're going to fix your cred."
1. The Plan

_This is set pretty soon after the ending of Ragnorok and after the events of Homecoming._

* * *

When Peter wakes, he's instantly confused. There's no alarm blaring, no red lights signalling an intrusion and he knows from far too much experience that it wasn't a nightmare that woke him up either. Turning his head to look at the clock, Peter huffs. 11.46. He's barely had an hour of sleep and he's got a calc test tomorrow morning. Typical.

For the next half an hour, Peter tries to get back to sleep but while he wouldn't say his spidey-sense is tingling, he feels like something happened, something important. Peter tells himself he's being ridiculous but eventually, he comes to the conclusion that ignoring the feeling is futile and he's not going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. He might as well at least head to the kitchen and grab some hot coco. He's pretty sure he didn't use up all the marshmallows when trying to get Vision to recreate the chubby bunny challenge.

It's always weird walking around the facility late at night. The lights are set to dim and the halls are quiet, making Peter almost feel like he's an intruder. Which, he's definitely not. Since Aunt May found out about Spider-Man, he's been spending nearly as much time at the facility as he does at home, training and working on upgrades for the suit when Tony has some spare time. He also gets to hang out with Vision sometimes, and Colonel 'Call me Rhodey' Rhodes, who makes some amazing omelettes.

Normally, when Peter goes to the kitchen for a midnight snack the lights are off but as he reaches the room he realises that's not the case now. Maybe Vision was trying out a new recipe? No, there's not enough crashing for that…. Peter slows as he approaches the entrance and peers around the corner. There's a guy there sat at the table, his back facing Peter. He looks like he's wearing a black suit, leading Peter to wonder if he was there for a meeting or something? Sure, it was kind of late, but weirder things had happened that a midnight meeting.

"Are you just going to stand there?"

Peter jumps. The voice sounds posh. British maybe?

"Um, hi. Sorry, to disturb you. I can come back la-"

The words die off Peter's tongue when the man turns. He may only have been seven during the Chitauri invasion but he'll never forget seeing that face on the TV screen, never forget that feeling of absolute panic when he realised that the alien invasion would be nothing like TV had led him to believe.

"Holy shit," he croaks. "You're Loki."

Peter doesn't know what he's more worried about. The fact that Loki is just casually sitting in the kitchen of the supposedly secure Avengers facility or the fact that his spidey-sense is apparently broken because he feels _nothing_.

"And I presume you are an illegitimate child of Stark's?"

Peter gapes. "I'm not, he's not, I-"

"You stay the hell away from Reindeer Games."

Peter startles at Tony's voice and as his eyes seek out the source, they end up nearly bulging out of his head. Of course, if Loki was here then it made reasonable sense his brother would be too, but that thought had not occurred quickly enough to prepare Peter for the sight of Thor, _God of Thunder_ , standing in front of him in the flesh. Wait, was it flesh or were Gods made out of some kind of otherworldly material?

Material. PJs. Peter was meeting Gods in his _freakin' PJs._

"Tony, my brother-"

"Is still on the naughty list as far as I'm concerned. You hear that, Loki? You stay away from the kid. Speaking of, what are you doing up? It's a school night."

Peter barely hears Tony. "It's a pleasure to meet you Thoooh," Peter cuts himself off before he can embarrass himself further. He's pretty sure it'd make a real bad impression to point out the eyepatch he was pretty sure had not existed the last time Thor visited Earth but, oh, look at that, he's caught Peter's mistake anyway. This is turning out great for Peter.

"It is a pleasure to meet you also; I presume you are the Man of Spiders? I see you have noticed my battle wound. I obtained it from a fight with my sister."

Peter blinks. "Your, uh, sister…?"

"That is a story for later," Tony interrupts. His eyes hone in on Peter. "Why are you awake kid? It's supposed to be certain spiderling's bedtime."

"I got woke up and was thirsty," Peter says defensively. Tony sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Grab some water and get back to bed and before you say anything, _yes_ , I will update you with what's going on after school _on_ the condition you get your butt out of here pronto."

With one final glance at Thor and Loki (both of whom looked varying degrees of amused which, geez, that's embarrassing, why did Tony have to choose now to start trying to parent him?), Peter quickly pours himself a glass of water and scurries back to his room. He's not even close to tired now, not that he knows just what woke him in the first place.

He's not exactly ecstatic to have Loki under the same roof as him but he trusts Tony, and now Thor, to stop anything he may be planning. Plus, he can't wait to tell Ned he's just met his favourite superhero.

* * *

The next morning, Peter unsurprisingly wakes up late. The kitchen void of any unexpected Gods, Peter eats his cereal alone and meets Happy by the entrance. The man has grudgingly been designation his courier when he stays at the facility and for all that Happy grumbles, Peter knows his day would be far more boring if he didn't get to listen to Peter's retelling of his own.

"Late night kid?" Happy asks in greeting and Peter wonders how he knew before he realises, he's forgotten to brush his hair. Well, too late now.

"Do you know that Thor and Loki are here? Like, the actual Thor and his brother who nearly took over the world but might be okay now? Well, maybe not okay okay but I would hope better and _ohmyGodthat'saspaceship_."

Happy has to actually grab Peter's backpack to keep him from running towards the massive frickin' spaceship that's just sat outside the facility. That has to be what woke him up last night. The facility has some pretty good soundproofing but there's no way his senses could have ignored it arriving. It's got to be at least half the size of the building, with a shiny coating that Peter would bet doesn't exist on Earth and through the windows, Peter's pretty sure he can make out people. Not just any people though. Asgardians.

"Nu'uh, you're going to school kid. Tony said he'll tell you what's up when you get back. Don't worry, it won't have gone by then. Maybe if you're lucky you'll get a tour."

Even though it physically hurts to turn away from the ship, Peter does, if not without one last, longing glance. It's a good thing that Tony has been pretty good at keeping his promises to Peter lately or Happy wouldn't have stood a chance.

* * *

Ned's reaction is everything Peter could have hoped for and more and he has to forcibly stop his best friend following him to the facility like a stray puppy. Peter desperately wants to know what's going on and he has a feeling bringing Ned will just get the both of them sent straight to his room, no questions allowed. It takes promising his best friend that he'll try and get permission to visit that he finally relents and so, it's alone that Peter runs into the facility. As Happy had said, the ship was still there and now he wants answers. There doesn't appear to be anyone around and just as Peter decides that means he can just do his own exploration, it was clearly fair game, FRIDAY's voice stops him in his tracks.

"Boss is currently in the lab but he'll be up shortly. He told me to tell you not to move. Or get any ideas."

Peter huffs, throwing his school bag on the couch. He distracts himself by getting some snacks and he's just finished his second banana when Tony arrives. Peter can't help the droop of his shoulders when he sees that he's alone.

"Gods are busy people kid," Tony says dryly. "Sit down and I'll explain what's going on. Uh buh buh, no questions until I'm done."

Peter's open mouth slams shut. Somewhere along the line, it looks like Tony has learnt how to deal with Peter and his mouth. By the time they're done, Peter decides that's probably a good thing because if he'd interrupted every time he'd had a question, the explanation probably would have lasted to the evening. Even now, Peter's still struggling to wrap his mind around everything. Ragnorok? A secret sister? _Bruce Banner staying at the facility?_

"You can see him when he's up for guests," Tony says when Peter's leg starts bouncing uncontrollably. "No going looking for him, got it?"

"I wouldn't do that!" Peter argues, even as the other leg starts bouncing too. Tony couldn't get mad for him just talking an extra long walk around the facility, could he…?

"Sure you wouldn't," Tony replies with a deadpan expression. "But as I was saying, Thor and his dear little brother will be staying here too. Now, it's not fair for me to make you stay away while they're here, since I don't know how long it's going to take for them to sort things out, but I want you to be careful Peter. Thor might be convinced his brother's changed but it's clear to me he's more than a little biased in his views. Stay away from Loki Peter and whatever you do, don't talk to him. You've heard what they call him, haven't you?"

"Uh, the trickster?"

"The Lie-Smith. Silver tongue. You can't trust what he says. I don't know what his game-plan is but so long as it doesn't involve Earth, I'm staying out of it and so are you."

"What about the other Asgardians? Are they going to stay here too?"

"A few of them will be staying on the ship, the rest of them will be living in one of my old state houses a few hours away. I hear despite his lack of a hammer, transport isn't so difficult for Thor so he'll be able to keep an eye on them."

"Cool," Peter breathes and Tony rolls his eyes.

"Kids these days, from one fad to the next."

"You're cool too, Tony," Peter says seriously. "But c'mon, Thor's a _God_. Oh, speaking of, do you think I can bring Ned over to meet him?"

In response, Tony just rolls his eyes again and says, "I'm heading back to the lab."

Well, it's not a no.

* * *

In the end, Peter decides not to try his luck and after the next day, where he sees neither Thor, Loki or Professor Banner, he decides to spend the remainder of the week at home with Aunt May. With her working and him now spending more time with Tony and patrolling as Spider-Man, they don't get to spend as much time together. It's for that reason on Saturday, they decide to have a proper day out together; going to see a film and get ice cream. It's as they've just paid for said ice cream that Peter breaks the news that Thor's hanging around on Earth.

In his defence, he hadn't expected her to _drop_ the ice cream.

Of course, that leads him to explain about the others and it's kind of creepy how similar her warning about Loki is to Tony's. Not that he doesn't understand, of course.

One of the clearest memories Peter has from when he was a kid is the Chitauri invasion. He'd been seven at the time and first, he'd thought it the coolest moment of his life. After all, what was better than seeing real-life superheroes battle real-life aliens? That excitement quickly died down as the threat became real and Peter entered the scariest moment of his life. The comics don't focus on what it's like being a civilian in that kind of situation. They don't talk about the panic when your loved one is in a different place but apparently, it doesn't matter because people just keep telling you to leave and find somewhere safe because who knew how far the monsters would get? Sure, there were the Avengers out there to stop them but there was no guarantee they'd be able to save everybody. In fact, they already hadn't.

Ben had assured Peter they would make it, that Aunt May stuck in the hospital would too, but even at seven years old, Peter had known it was an empty promise. His words didn't drown out the panic that surrounded them, the screams that they were all going to die, that the world was ending.

Peter knows that Loki was the leader of the invasion but having done some digging with the help of FRIDAY and Karen, he also knows that Loki hadn't exactly been in his right frame of mind. There had been something called a Terresock, Terresa, a Tesseract or something influencing him. Peter doesn't know the exact details but he knows enough that it's unlikely Loki's going to go on a maniacal rampage again, especially after he just helped Thor and Professor Banner.

And anyway…two royal Gods _was_ better than one.

* * *

The next time Peter goes to the compound, it's Tuesday and much to Ned's dismay, he's not with him. Apparently, his mom was getting worried about his sleeping habits and ordering him to get as much rest as possible. Peter feels a little guilty about this since the new dark circles under Ned's eyes have been due to him being more active in his 'guy in the chair' duties. Peter promises that if he does see Thor, he'll record a video message for him, it's the least he can do.

First, though, he has to do his Spanish homework which Peter may or may not have been slacking on thanks to patrol. It doesn't help that Tony has ordered FRIDAY and Karen not to help him anymore and is currently fixing the bug where they had just been telling him all the answers and writing his oral exam material for him. Peter would go back to using google translate but Señora López is freakily good at sussing out who's used it and that's definitely not going to get him a pass.

Peter had been aiming to bug Tony to help him, so it's really not his fault that he just happens to come across Loki first. Like last time, he freezes at the sight of him. It's strange, the kid in him remembers the terror he'd felt during the invasion but the Spider-Man part of him isn't registering Loki as a threat at all. The two sides are at war with each other as he stands there, getting looked at like he's a mouse caught by a cat. Or maybe a spider caught by a cat.

What eats spiders again?

"Hello not-child-of-Stark. You needn't fear me, I've received a very detailed description of what will happen if I even mildly threaten you," Loki says dryly.

"Uh," is all that Peter manages in response. He tells himself it's fine, that Loki's pale, but not that weird kind of blue pale he'd been all those years ago. And that even though it still feels like he could zap Peter with a glance, he just said he's not going to.

"Are all Midgardian children as incompetent as you? It amazes me that you accomplish anything in your short life-spans."

It takes Peter a moment to register he's been insulted and that seems to kick his brain back into gear.

"Hey! Emotional hurt is a thing too and that was rude." The words have only just left his lips when Peter realises his mistake. He's just spoken back to a God, to Loki, who said he wouldn't hurt him but could probably, almost definitely, poof him out of existence if he wanted too…

No magical zaps occur, which is nice, and instead, Loki rolls his eyes heavenward. "Then leave before I cause more trauma to your poor delicate heart." He goes back to whatever he was reading, a book with a deep sapphire cover that looks incredibly old, magical and awesome, and instead of doing the wise thing and following Loki's instruction, Peter stays. Sure, he still has this lingering fear around the God, but growing is intense curiosity.

Besides, Peter really needs help with his homework and let's face it, Tony wasn't going to get him that A.

"So, um, how good are you at languages?"

"You're still here?" Loki sighs and puts down his book. "I can speak over 5000. Why?"

Peter blinks, digests that, and moves on. "Is Spanish one of them?"

Loki snorts. "All of your Midgardian languages are ridiculously similar. It would be embarrassing if I couldn't."

This time, Peter can't tell if he's insulted. "Could you help me with my homework?" He asks before he can decide the answer is probably yes.

Sitting back in his chair, Loki raises an eyebrow. "What will I get in return?"

"Uhh… the satisfaction in knowing you helped me not fail my class?"

"Why would that make me satisfied?" Loki asks bluntly and well, okay. Fair enough. Peter grimaces.

"I have 10 bucks?"

"Show me how you swing from buildings."

That throws Peter for a second. "You mean you want to see my web fluid?"

Loki waves a hand dismissively. "Yes, that thing that allows you to fly through the air. Midgardian science isn't that fascinating but I am led to believe your creation is quite unique. Plus, Stark has banned me from his labs."

If Peter were to guess, he'd say the expression on Loki's face is almost…almost a _pout_. Slowly, he beings to realise something.

"You're bored, aren't you?"

Loki bristles and Peter wonders if he's made a grave, grave error and that zapping might actually be in his future. Loki doesn't even raise a hand, however, though he says in a terse voice, "Would you not be? Being confined to a single building due to actions you committed when you were not in full control of your own mind? Being treated as if you were still crazed and dangerous simply because at one point in your life, a higher being made you so? They may not have given me the title but here, I am once again a prisoner, not allowed the _privilege_ to even leave this pitiful building. So, yes, I am as you say 'bored'."

Oh. Oh dear. Maybe this is why Tony told Peter to stay away from Loki. He's actually sympathising with the God. He wants to help Loki the same way he helped that duckling that got stuck in a drain.

"I'll show you my web fluid," Peter says decidedly. "And then, we're going to fix your cred."

Loki's eyes narrow onto Peter. "My 'cred'?"

"You know, your reputation. Let's face it, people still see you as a villain thanks to the invasion. Justified since, you know, you hurt a lot of people and caused a lot of damage but you're right, you weren't in control. What we need to show people is what you're like now, now that you're not under control and want to do good!"

"I never said-"

"And I think the best way to do that would be to show you what makes Earth, uh, Midgard so great. If people seeing you do regular human stuff, they'll see you've changed, that you like us now and aren't going to try and become our supreme leader or whatever."

"I wouldn't say I've completely given up on the id-"

"Look," Peter interrupts before Loki convinces him this is a really, really, stupid idea. "You said you were bored, right? And from the looks of things you're going to be here a while. What could it hurt? And hey, this way you could tell me about Asgard! You're a magician, right? You can do magic? I've always wanted to learn about magic."

"I think I preferred it when you could barely speak," Loki says dryly before he huffs. "Fine. I'll indulge you. For now."

Peter grins. "Great! And to start this off, you can help me translate these sentences!"

"Yay."

* * *

 _So I had this idea of Peter bonding with Loki months ago but lost inspiration. Recently, I decided to make a rough plan and came up with this! It's just supposed to be a bit of fun and hopefully I'll be able to update weekly :) I'd also like to know what you think Peter should get Loki to experience :P_


	2. The Compromise

_Sorry for the delay - real life got busy and because I didn't want to go a really long time without updating - I've decided to split the chapters up further. Hopefully, that will work better in the long run as they should be more detailed, if shorter._

* * *

"You know FRIDAY has eyes on everything, don't you?"

Peter freezes, spoonful of cereal tantalisingly close to his open mouth. Slowly, the spoon descends back into the milk.

"That's an invasion of privacy," Peter says with false bravado. His head tilts when a thought pops into it. "Even the bathroom?"

Tony ignores him. "You're lucky I didn't bust your ass then and there. What were you thinking kid? After I specifically said not to go near him, what do you do? Go and walk straight up to him! Not only that, but you decide to make him your new pet project. If you're that bored Pete, I'll allocate some more time with me in the lab."

Peter sighs and patiently says, "It's not me who's bored Tony, it's Loki. He's basically under house arrest here and it can't be fair, especially not after he helped Thor! He wasn't in full control when he was with the Chitauri and I'll bet he's been punished enough."

"Don't act as if you know everything Peter," Tony says, warning in his tone. "I agree, Loki did have the Tesseract influencing him, but that's all it was – an influence. It heightened his emotions, made him crazier than he otherwise would have been, but the Tesseract didn't create anything. You can't trust him Peter and I sure as hell don't trust him around you."

"Then why didn't you 'bust my ass' straight away when you found out?" Peter counters, jumping off from his seat. "Clearly you trusted him enough to help me with my homework."

Tony purses his lips. "I had eyes on you the whole time and FRIDAY knows what to do if you'd been in the slightest bit of danger."

"According to you, I'm in danger being within 100 feet of him."

"Don't be a smart-ass, Pete. Fine, I was curious." Tony's eyes dart to the side and he mumbles, "Thor may also have been with me and I couldn't very well threaten his brother with him standing there with that damn grin on his face."

"Let me guess, Thor thinks it's a great idea," Peter says, unable to keep the smugness from his voice.

"Yeah well it's not Thor you have to convince," Tony says pointedly and okay, that dampens Peter's spirits a bit.

"Look, the whole point of prisons should be to rehabilitate people, make them fit for society again. If this is going to be Loki's prison then he should have the chance to be rehabilitated too. That's what I wanna do, well, kinda. I just want to give Loki the chance to show he's changed and remind people that they shouldn't solely judge others on their past actions." Peter debates voicing the next part but ultimately, decides, screw it. He's gone this far. "Do you want to be constantly judged for yours?" He asks quietly.

"It's not the same," Tony says tightly and Peter swallows past the lump in his throat that formed with the question.

"I know you've changed Tony. Trust me, I know. But why can't Loki change too? Why can't he get the opportunity to show everyone like you had?"

Tony is quiet for a few moments, his gaze distant and his hands clenching and unclenching periodically. "Fury would have an aneurysm if he knew I let Loki leave the facility," is what he ends up saying and that's when Peter knows he's won.

* * *

Of course, there are conditions. While Peter himself doesn't mind them, he's just relieved he's actually got Tony's sort of support on this, convincing Loki that they're fair is another matter entirely.

"So, you want me to comply with your inane, childish ideas whilst being supervised by a glorified, metallic nursemaid, pretend to be masquerading as myself like I am a joke to be laughed at and finally, have these undoubtedly embarrassing exploits be exposed to the public? No."

The actual conditions are as follows;

Peter must have his suit on him at all times.

One of Tony's suits must be following at all times. They will also be collecting the footage.

All outings must first be approved by Tony.

They are currently limited to 5 activities – this is to avoid Peter trying to balance too much and burning himself out.

If approached, Loki must deny who he is and, if pressed, say he is an impersonator – this is to prevent any angry mobs targeting them.

Peter can never be in any of the footage that is released to the public and Peter may not upload the videos himself to ensure they cannot be traced back to him.

If Peter is in the slightest bit of danger, Tony has explicit permission to cancel the project, no questions asked and Peter cannot judge him from what may or may not happen to Loki following.

All in all, it seems like a pretty good deal to Peter. To Loki, evidently not so much.

"Okay, so, one: they're not going to be 'inane' or 'childish'…at least, not in a bad way! Also, that's only if people ask. If you wear nor-um, Midgardian clothing then I doubt anyone will even notice, especially if I don't shout your name out or anything. Finally, how would Midgard know you've changed if they don't see proof of it?"

"I'm sure even you Midgardian's would notice one of Stark's creations following us around. That in itself would draw attention and suspicion, would it not?"

"Cloaking device," Peter explains proudly. "No one will be able to see it. Plus, Tony's got a hold of some of Ant-man's tech so it'll be smaller, so we shouldn't like, accidentally slam a door on it or anything." To Peter's surprise and delight, Loki looks grudgingly impressed.

"This is ridiculous," he says.

Peter inspects his nails. "Last I heard, you could be here a few months at least." He glances up just in time to see Loki's eye twitch.

"The equivalent of a second in my life-span."

Peter huffs, reigning in the desire to stomp his foot and pout. "I'm really trying to help here! Why not just try the first activity and see what you think. You never know unless you try." Oh man, he was starting to sound like Aunt May. Suddenly, Peter has a new level of respect for her.

"You're very persistent."

"Comes with the job," Peter shrugs.

"Show me your webs, little spider, and then fine. I shall consent to one activity."

"Great! Oh, and you can't say no if you think it sounds dumb because I'm gonna bet a lot of stuff will sound dumb to you."

Loki rolls his eyes. "Fine."

Feeling like he's just won a war, Peter says, "I'll go grab my web shooters."

* * *

It ends up being surprisingly fun showing Loki his gear. For all that he has a very different understanding of science, he asks intelligent questions and even gives Peter some food for thought on how he could improve the formula. He almost takes Loki up on the offer to improve them with magic but a sharp clearing of the throat from some invisible speakers puts a stop to that.

That's the easy part of their deal. The harder part keeps Peter thinking long into the night.

What would Loki actually enjoy?

First, he considers a science museum, considering how Loki had liked seeing his web fluid, before he decides that most of his own love for those museums comes from nostalgia rather than the learning factor, which is ultimately what appeals to Loki. It might feed his ego, show how much more advanced Asgard is in comparison, but that is not really Peter's goal here. He needs Loki to _appreciate_ Earth, not feel superior to it which is ultimately what led the whole reason they were doing this.

In the end, it's MJ who inspires the idea, after she shows him her latest sketch – him with his head dropping into his palm. She makes a point of scribbling her pencil under his eyes.

"Sorry, late nights in the library," he lies, since he can't very well ask her opinion on his issue.

"I know I told you to get serious about the decathlon Parker but you're not going to be any use to us falling asleep at the podium. Cut the library and get some sleep."

"Sorry," Peter repeats and as he goes back to his book, it dawns on him.

He can take Loki to the library.

* * *

 _I have all the activities planned out so I'm not taking ideas for what Peter and Loki will get up to - however, once I've finished the main bit there could be bonus chapters :)_


	3. The Library

Just because he's taking Loki to a library, doesn't mean Peter's going to be lazy and show him the old one a few blocks away from school. He has to make this special and that's why Peter does the research, ultimately deciding on the New York Public Library. He knows he's made a good choice when, as they walk in, Loki casts an appreciative eye around the towers of books and fancy architecture.

"Not as grand as those in Asgard, but passable."

Peter hides a smile. Coming from Loki, that's practically glowing praise.

"Where do you wanna go first? There's science, art, ancient history; you know I bet-"

Peter hastily cuts himself off. He'd been about to say he bets there would be some books featuring Loki himself, along with all the other Norse Gods. Letting Loki loose on them, however, could be risky. Peter doesn't know a whole lot about Loki's past but he does know that if the legends are true, a lot of it isn't very nice. If those legends are in fact true, or even if they have been made up or exaggerated, Peter's pretty sure Loki wouldn't be too happy to read about it and upsetting Loki would be a quick-fire way to ruin the project.

"You bet?" Loki asks.

"I bet you'd like Ancient Greece," Peter quickly answers, mentally giving himself a pat on the back.

"Oh, I know about that already. Well, the interesting parts, at least," Loki says dismissively. "Hades and Persephone still bear a grudge for how you Midgardian's portray them in your silly myths."

By the time Loki's words have sunk into Peter's brain, Loki has dived into the aisles, leaving Peter to hurry before he loses him.

* * *

Admittedly, they have a rocky start. Loki first heads to the modern history section and, of course, finds a book on world leaders. Peter makes the executive decision then and there that Loki's comment on how 'compared to many of these idiots, he would have made quite the benevolent dictator', will not be making it into the final cut of the video.

Loki inspects a few more sections after that, taking interest in Leonardo Da Vinci and Shakespeare's plays, and Peter gets excited because this is what he'd hoped for, for Loki to see that Earth had some great stuff to offer. His excitement proves to be his downfall, however, because not long after that, the book, or rather, _books_ , aren't the profound, philosophical ones Peter had expected (hoped) for.

No, the books that Loki decides he can't put down, out of all the books in one of the biggest libraries in New York, is…

Harry Potter.

Now, Peter loves Harry Potter. He wears his Hufflepuff scarf with pride, but this place was full of books you couldn't get anywhere else. Peter had wanted Loki to look at those, to get inspired by what Earth had to offer, to give Loki a better understanding of who they were and what they had come from – show him what humans managed to accomplish in their 'pitifully short life-spans'.

But nope, instead, Loki sat in the admittedly beautiful Rose Room, speed reading his way through the Sorcerer's Stone.

"You know," Peter says desperately, "I have all these at home and I could lend them to you later. In the mean-time there's plenty of other books here I'm sure you'd find really interesting…"

"Quiet," Loki orders, flicking onto a new page. He reads on for a moment before looking at Peter with a frustrated expression. "Why doesn't Harry just use his magic to deal with his relatives? It is clear he has strong magical potential. I'm sure even untrained he could harness the ability to protect himself more than foolishly teleporting to a roof," Loki sniffs. "He could easily overpower them if he so desired."

"Uh, because it's a kid's book? Sorta," he adds, thinking of all the deaths that aren't even adult friendly. He's still not over Fred and never will be.

"Surely children should be taught to fight back against mistreatment?" Loki disputes and well, Peter can't really argue with that.

"Uh, just keep reading," he ends up saying. Since it looks like they're going to be there a while, Peter decides he might as well do something useful and joins Loki at the table with his homework. At the very least, Peter gets treated to some interesting commentary.

* * *

"Why are all the Slytherins deemed evil? It is not evil to value ambition and cunning. Why, they are values that should be fostered."

"…You know, you'd definitely be a Slytherin."

Loki smirks and continues reading.

* * *

"This Dumbledore in an inept buffoon," Loki says scathingly. "Allowing trolls to get into the school, hiring Quirrell who is clearly in league with Voldemort. McGonagall should be the head of the school, even with her blatant favouritism."

* * *

"No wonder these children are in Gryffindor. Driving a ridiculous flying automobile neither have been trained to use in order to get to the school? Are adults truly this incompetent in this universe or are the boy's truly that stupid?"

* * *

"How could no one have even guessed it is a Basilisk? They're very similar to the snakes found on Asgard. I once became one to trick Thor, you know. One of my finer moments, I'd say."

* * *

"Finally, a little revenge! Blowing up the woman is rather tame compared to what I would have done but sometimes humiliation is the best course of action."

* * *

Loki's halfway through the Prisoner of Azkaban when it's time to leave, and honestly, Peter doesn't expect the level of reluctance he receives.

"I want to find out what happens," Loki demands. "It is clear that this Sirius Black is not as guilty as everyone believes and that Remus Lupin is a werewolf. What was the author thinking with the name? She might as well have called him Wolf Wolf. And on that note, why does popular literature always insist on this prejudice against wolves-"

"Could you keep your voice down, please?" Peter hisses, smiling apologetically at the people who give them judgy looks. They've been doing well with no-one recognising Loki and he really doesn't want to ruin that now. "And I can bring you my set when I visit next."

"When is that?" Loki asks with narrowed eyes.

"Uh, well I was planning on coming over next Sunday since me and May are going out on Saturday…"

"You will come tomorrow after school," Loki decides and any reluctance Peter has to that idea disappears once they compromise that, in return, Loki will once again help with his homework. Look, Peter's a busy guy, okay?

"So," Peter starts as they walk out. "I did pretty good, right?"

Loki glances down at him. "It wasn't as terrible as I imagined," he relents.

"Then you agree to four more?" Peter asks hopefully.

Loki keeps Peter waiting a few agonising moments before he sighs and says, "Fine."

"Yes!" Peter's fist pumps up in the air. He then stops Loki so they're facing each other. "Shake on it," he orders, holding out his hand. After looking at his hand like it's something disgusting (which, rude), Loki rolls his eyes and takes Peter's hand, giving it a short shake.

"And no take-backsies," Peter warns.

"No 'take-backsies'," Loki repeats, with weariness only an eons-old God can muster and with that, the deal is sealed.

* * *

 _I'll have you know it pained me to write Sorcerer's Stone._


	4. The Theme Park

_Sorry this took so long but I've been struggling with both motivation and time. I do hope you enjoy this new chapter!_

* * *

Peter's been going to High Drive Park for as long as he can remember. When he was a kid, Ben used to take him as a weekend treat and May took over from him when he died, despite how much she hated the 'death traps'. It holds some of his fondest memories and so it's obvious to Peter that the Park should be one of the places he takes Loki. He figures they need a change of pace from the library anyways.

"You Midgardian's are so fragile it astounds me you even consider creating these contraptions. It's as if you are trying to kill yourselves," Loki comments as they watch a group of shrieking people dive down into the Doom Pit.

"Roller coasters go through tons of checks," Peter says a little defensively. "So, they're safe. They just give you a major adrenaline boost."

"A more humane method than war I suppose," Loki concedes. "Which of these shall we go on first?"

Peter brings out the map and inspects it, tongue poking out in concentration. "Well, I thought we could start easy and maybe ride the-"

"Easy?" Loki interrupts. "You needn't go easy on my account. I have flown broken ships in asteroid storms. I can't imagine these things will make me feel more than a faint breeze."

Peter's expression turns dubious. "You sure about that? I mean, some of these rides go pretty fast…"

"As I said, you Midgardian's are fragile. These were not built to entertain Gods."

Peter shrugs and goes back to the map. "Okay then, what about Javelin? It's like a giant swing."

Loki's eyes move to look at the rough image Peter's pointing to on the map. "A giant swing you say. How thrilling. Let's get this over then."

"Try not to sound so excited," Peter deadpans but his comment is completely lost on Loki, who has already strode off in completely the wrong direction.

* * *

"You're looking a little pale there, Loki," Peter says once they've got off the ride. It hadn't escaped Peter's notice how with each decent, Loki's hands had gripped the metal bars tighter and tighter and where most of the other riders screamed with joy, Loki's mouth had been set in a firm, thin line.

In an attempt to contradict Peter's statement, Loki forces himself to stand a little taller. Peter doesn't miss the way he sways ever so slightly.

"I have been the Hulk's plaything," he says with distaste. "That was no worse."

"We can go easier if you want," Peter offers.

"No!" Loki snaps, taming a few loose strands of hair. "I am perfectly fine. We shall go on that one next." He points to a nearby ride, one aptly called the Spiraliser. It's famous for how many loops and corkscrews it has. Peter debates arguing with Loki, after all he is supposed to be _enjoying_ himself, not proving some stupid point that he's stronger than humans or whatever, but he knows from the stubborn glint in Loki's eyes that nothing he says will change his mind.

Peter sighs.

"The Spiraliser it is."

* * *

Either God's just can't vomit, or Loki's really good at holding it in. His face is as pale as Peter's ever seen it and his eye is twitching a little.

"What a weak excuse for a ride," Loki says, the venom in his words weakened by how breathless he still sounds. "I don't know why you insisted on bringing me here. All you have done is given me examples of Midgardian's suicidal behaviours."

Okay, Peter's getting more than a little sick of Loki's 'holier than thou' attitude, especially when all that's coming out of his mouth is a bunch of big fat lies.

"It's okay not to like roller coasters, Loki," Peter says, unable to keep all the frustration out of his voice. "I brought us to this place because it has all sorts of rides, not just the big thrill ones. Look, there's one here where you get to shoot things and compete. No dips or loops but it's still a lot of dang fun."

"I am not weak, I do not need to go on the childish rides," Loki argues and Peter finally gives in to the urge to roll his eyes.

"It's not being weak! C'mon man, I'm trying to make sure you have a good time here, not puke your guts out. You know, I'm kind of unbeatable at it. I bet you can't get a higher score than me."

The taunt works and as Loki reads the description of the ride on the map, a dark smile blossoms on his face.

"I will annihilate you."

* * *

After convincing Tony through the suit that no, Loki had not meant that literally, they head over to Space Attack and get directed into a little space-ship themed pod. As cliché as the design is, this ride is actually one of Peter's favourites. He's got a soft spot for the ugly neon aliens that pop up behind planets and stars. Peter debates going easy on the God but quickly decides, screw it. Part of Loki' redemption can be learning a little humility.

He shouldn't be surprised that, once again, things don't go as planned.

While Peter's busy yelling at the aliens and cheering with each successful hit, Loki plays with silent concentration, the only emotion on his face the slight upward tilt of his lips. By the end of the track, Peter is confident he's won this round. Then the scores flash up on the pod.

300670 and 71243.

Guess which one is Peter's score.

"Holy shoot. Literally," Peter says dumbly and to his surprise, Loki actually grins at him. It's amazing just how much younger, and how much more human, it makes him look.

"Thor might be good with his hammer but when it comes to challenges requiring aim without magical assistance, I will always win. You know, this reminds me of the lessons I had as an infant."

"They made you ride around in fake ships shooting at fake aliens?"

"Fake aliens? Oh no. We used the prisoners."

At Peter's scandalised expression, Loki laughs and that action in itself leaves Peter even more dumbfounded. "So gullible. No, we used illusions, and we didn't give them a ridiculous make-over. After all, you needed to know what exactly could kill you." He goes quiet then, retreating back behind that mask of indifference and nope, Peter's not having that. He's had a grin _and_ a laugh. He's gotta keep this momentum going.

"They've got a fun house here too. Wanna race through the mirror maze?"

* * *

Peter has been going through the mirror maze for years. When he reaches the end, Loki is waiting for him with a big, albeit smug, smile.


	5. The Ducks

_My dudes, I'm so sorry for how long it took me to get this out. All I can say is work is whooping my ass and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future._

* * *

"You sure you want to use one of your activities on this, Peter?" Tony asks when Peter lets him know of his latest plan.

"It's something Ben and I used to do all the time," Peter defends, putting down his screwdriver. "Anyway, I thought it'd be good to something a little more chill, you know?"

Tony shrugs, wiping his greasy hands on an old rag. "Hey, it's your choice, kid. But, are you sure you don't want to at least go to the zoo?"

"No," Peter says confidently. "This is what I wanna do."

* * *

"You call this 'fun'?"

Peter throws some more bird feed down on the grass. As always, Speckles and Featherly are the first in there and Peter makes sure to toss some further down to the slower Marshmallow and Nippy. Otherwise, the latter will definitely live up to his namesake.

"It's relaxing," Peter replies easily. "Come on, try it." He pours some feed into Loki's hand before he can protest and the god looks at it as if it were poison. Eventually, he simply tips his hand sideways so the feed falls down by his feet. More ducks gather around them, quaking enthusiastically.

"Now what?" Loki asks.

"Now you relax and enjoy, throwing them some food whenever."

"Hm." Loki leans back against the bench, watching the ducks gorge themselves. Mal, short for Maleficent, is barging her way through the crowd and Peter rolls his eyes before carefully laying some more feed by her poor victims. Satisfied all the ducks are getting their share, Peter joins Loki in observing.

"This is something I used to do with my Uncle Ben," Peter explains after a little while. "Every Saturday, when May had an early shift, we'd come here, feed the ducks and just talk about our weeks. Ben worked a lot so we didn't always have the time to talk, just the two of us. It was nice. Really nice."

Loki's silent for a few moments. "Used to?" He eventually questions.

Peter focuses on Speckles, who's getting frustrated with Featherly and nudging him out of the way with her butt. He likes to think they're the duck equivalent of married, even if he hasn't seen any bushy, spotted ducklings.

"Ben died a few years ago. A random shooting." Featherly playfully tapping Speckles with his beak isn't enough to draw a smile out of Peter as he adds, "I was there."

Loki glances at him out of the corner of his eye, an unreadable expression on his face. "Had you gained your powers?"

A lump forms in Peter's throat but even with that, he finds he wants to keep talking. Loki…for all that he judges Earth and the humans inhabiting it, is acting surprisingly non-judgemental about this. He's not telling Peter to shut up and he's also not got that sympathetic expression on his face that even Tony gets when he mentions it.

"Yeah. Like a week before. I'd been going out a lot, figuring stuff out, and one night, Ben had gone looking for me. I'd forgotten to bring my phone out with me." Peter picks at the skin around his nails. "I heard the gunshot but by the time I got to him, it was too late."

"You blame yourself."

"I try not to. I've been told by everyone not to…but, yeah. I still do."

"I understand," is all Loki says in response and funnily enough, it helps more than anyone insisting yet again that it wasn't Peter's fault. In an effort to make the atmosphere a bit lighter, Peter changes the subject by asking, "Have you ever heard the tale of the ugly duckling?"

"I have not." This time it doesn't sound like he's inviting Peter to tell the story but heck, he's going to anyway.

"So, it's about this duckling, except, he's not like all the other ducklings – his family. They think he's ugly and so he's sad a lot of the time. He ends up leaving home because of it and wanders around, lost. Eventually, he finds these swans but he's too little to join them – he can't fly yet and so he doesn't bother them. He spends the winter alone and when the swans come back, he's older and decides to meet them. Like with everyone he's met before, he expects them to hate him, to think he's ugly but…they don't. They accept him happily and when the duck looks into the water, he realises why. He wasn't a duck at all. He was a swan and he'd finally found his family."

Loki flings a bit more feed to the ducks below. "What is the point of this story?" He asks in a noticeably controlled tone.

Peter shrugs. "I guess it's meant to teach kids that if you look a bit different, or act a bit different, that's not a bad thing. It just means you haven't found the right people yet, the people who'll accept and love you for who you are. It's also a good way to teach kids that bullying is wrong, especially for things people can't control. I always liked it and I thought you might too. Seemed relevant, you know?"

"I suppose." Peter intends to let Loki reflect on the story in peace, but that's when he spies them in the distance.

Geese.

"Uh, Loki. Not to like, worry you or anything, but um, we've got incoming." He points to the pair of Geese in the distance, swaggering towards them with all the attitude of a 1920s mobster.

Loki looks up sharply, a green glow already surrounding his hands, but it fades when he catches sight of them.

"What? You are frightened of those birds?"

Peter can tell Loki's amused, but he doesn't know. He doesn't know what they are. "Listen man, geese are dangerous. They may look harmless but if you don't give them what they want, they'll get vicious."

"I assume they want food?"

"Well, yeah, but Loki, seriously, you don't wanna give it to them-"

"Yet another example of Midgardian's fragility. Afraid of some common birds." Before Peter can warn him _again_ , Loki's gone, striding towards the geese who, spying the feed in his hands, scramble up to him, quaking impatiently. Loki drops some feed to the ground and the geese chow down on it, as if they've been starved their whole lives. Almost instantly, the taller one, who Peter names the Godfather, lifts his head and quacks, demanding more.

"Still hungry? Fine, but this is the last of my supply."

The geese clean off the remainder of the food in seconds. And now comes the problem. The Godfather and Goony crack up the volume, stalking towards Loki who regards them with a look of impatience.

"As I said, I don't have anymore. Shoo."

The geese don't care. They never care. The ducks around Peter have now scattered, there's no food left to tempt them to stay in this danger zone.

"They're not listening," Loki snaps as the Godfather and Goony start getting aggressive, flapping their wings, and Peter wonders if he's seen their-

"You didn't mention they have teeth!"

"Hey man, I tried to warn you! Be careful, they like to target the backs of your knees."

Later, Loki will insist that he did not run to the car. Peter, however, will privately disagree and say that he's just lucky he got Peter in the shot by pulling him by his jumper, because otherwise the whole world would know that the great trickster God got brought down by a pair of geese.


	6. The Show

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome to the stage…Adrian Star!"

The sound of applause echoes throughout the theatre as into the stoplight strides a middle-aged man dressed in a plain white shirt, sleeves rolled up, paired with a brown waistcoat and gold checked trousers that match the bowler hat sat atop his bald head. Whereas Peter is enthusiastically joining in with the crowd, beside him, Loki only deigns to give one single clap after being glared at long enough. He's wearing his usual, 'Must not let the pitiful humans know I am capable of more than apathy' expression, something that still frustrates Peter to no end, but he has a good feeling this show is going to remove it.

"Thank you, thank you! Welcome, everybody! Yes, my name is Adrian Star and tonight, I am going to take you on a journey through history. The history of…magic." He spins around on the spot, emerging to the front holding a rose that he throws into the audience.

"This man, is he not Midgardian?" Loki murmurs, looking confused and Peter grins.

"Oh, he's Midgardian. Just watch."

Adrian Star is not your average kid's party magician. He's toured all over the country with his 'History of Magic' tour, involving a range of tricks and talents that magicians have been performing over centuries. Peter knew for a while that he wanted to take Loki to a purely Midgardian magic show, to hopefully impress him with Earth's own form of illusion, but the issue had been finding the perfect one. Peter not only needed the magician to be good enough that they might stand a chance of amazing Loki, but they couldn't use any hypnosis (he wasn't stupid) and they ideally needed to be in New York. It had been Karen who'd eventually found Adrian Star, after Peter had given her the job of scanning through ads while he was on patrol. And after watching a couple of his TV specials, Peter knew he had to ask Tony to get them tickets.

"During our time together, I'm joining to take you on a trip through time, showing you how magic has changed and developed over the years, becoming the tricks we see commonly today. To do that, I'm going to start at the very beginning. Well, the beginning that we know of. It is believed that the first known performance of conjuring is in ancient Egypt by the magician Dedi. One of his more famous tricks was this."

Adrian reaches behind him, pulling out a single red ball from seemingly nowhere. There's faint applause and Peter hides his smile behind his hand when he sees Loki's eyes narrow.

"Yeah, not all that impressive, I know, but back then you would have been astounded. Now, Dedi has some less savoury tricks but instead, I'm going to move forward a bit. After Dedi, we see magic everywhere, in tales of heroes and monsters, to the witches who had to had to hide their supposed talents to avoid being burnt at the stake. Thankfully, we've moved past that otherwise I might not be here today! I'm not going to pretend I can mimic anything from those sorts of stories, but when we get to the Roman period, that's when a pretty familiar trick emerges."

Adrian walks behind the table placed in the centre of the stage. Placed face downwards on it, are three cups.

"You know, Harry Houdini once said that no one could be considered an accomplished magician until he had mastered the cup and balls. It's one of the first tricks I started learning when I became interested in magic. Now, we're going to see whether or not I am an accomplished magician. Ladies and gents, see the ball that is placed beneath this cup…"

"Who is this Houdini?" Loki asks, a bit too loud for the people in front of him if their hunched shoulders are anything to go by. "I know of many accomplished sorcerers yet have heard no mention of this 'Houdini'."

"He's famous over here," Peter whispers back. "Keep watching."

Adrian shows them the traditional cup and ball trick, which Loki claims is 'a waste of magic', and then follows it up with some variations. He first has the ball appearing in random places, like beneath his hat and then his mouth, and goes on to have new objects appear beneath the cups, including, at the end, water. Throughout it all, Loki refrains from commenting, but Peter doesn't miss the way the God's eye twitches with each new surprise.

Adrian goes through a few more tricks after that, focusing on the sleight of hand tricks that were common on the streets in the middle ages, before he moved onto spiritualism.

"For this one, I'm going to need some participants! And, to make sure none of you think I'm getting stooges for this I'm going to need some assistance. Could someone pass me Pogo?"

From the side of the stage comes a flying object that, once it lands in Adrian's hands, Peter sees is apparently a cuddly, gold, fish. "This is Pogo, my magical fish. I'm going to through Pogo into the audience and I'm going to ask you to throw them around. We'll give it three throws for each participant. Off you go!"

"I doubt that 'fish' has any inkling of magic within it," Loki scoffs, but Peter is too busy trying to catch the fish. Despite his best efforts(and resisting the urge to use his spidey-powers to leap upwards to grab it), three participants get called with no luck. He's resigned himself when, on the final throw, the fish ends up flying towards them. In his excitement, Peter grabs a fraction too early and Pogo's fin knocks against his hand, falling down onto Loki's lap.

"Well, it looks like we have our last participant! Sir in the green shirt, if you'd like to join us on stage."

"No," Loki says, regarding Pogo with wide eyes. "No absolutely-"

"Aw c'mon Loki! You wanted the proper Midgardian experience, right? Also, don't you wanna see it up close? Figure out how it's done?"

Loki's teeth clamp down, an internal war waging. As Peter had hoped, Loki's curiosity wins.

He also wins too, because Loki says, "You're coming with me," and thankfully, Adrian accepts the fact he's also dragged up onto the stage.

Even if he does think Loki is Peter's dad, which Peter thinks Loki takes way too much offense to. He'd be lucky to have a son like Peter.

"So, what are your names and where are you from?"

"I'm Peter," he quickly says, before Loki can vocalise to everyone how he is ' _definitely not the sire of this stubborn, manipulative arachnid_ ', "And this is my, uh, dad L…ucas. We're from Queens."

"Ah, Queens. Great place! Now, you guys, I'd like you all to stand around the table. Yes, yes, including you Lucas. We are going to re-create something that people used to do at seances when they were trying to contact the spirits of the dead. There'll be no contacting ghosts tonight, but what I would like you all to do is place your hands palm down on the table, not to close to the edges. Yes, just like that. Now what I want you to do is imagine it moving to the other side of the stage. I don't want you actively trying to move it, just _think_ very hard about it happening. Got that, guys? Give it a go."

Peter does as Adrian instructed and focuses his gaze on the table, thinking about it moving. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see the others, even Loki, doing the same. Peter concentrates a little harder and then, suddenly, the table shifts. Loki takes a step back and sneers at the other participants.

"Who moved it?" He demands.

"Hold on Lucas, that's the trick," Adrian interrupts, maintaining his jovial attitude. "They used to say, back then, that the spirits were the ones moving the table but now, now we say that's magic."

"You call this magic? Why-"

"Can we try again?" Peter interjects before Loki really does get them thrown out.

Thankfully, Adrian just seems to think Peter's a poor kid with a jerk for a dad because he appears to take pity on him, throwing him a smile and saying, "Great idea, Peter! Now that you know what's going to happen, let's see what we can make this table do."

As it turns out, they can make it do quite a lot. First, they manage to get the table across the other side of the stage, even with Loki quietly complaining that _someone_ must be moving it, and after that, they have it move all around the stage. Finally, they even get it spinning in place. Adrian looks more than a little relieved when he sends them all back to their seats.

"That was not a feat of magic!" Loki continues to argue when they sit back down, "Someone must have been lying and moving that table. Was it you?"

"It was not me," Peter huffs. "Maybe Midgardian's are just more magical than you thought."

Folding his arms, Loki huffs and settles back into his seat.

* * *

"So, what did you think?" Peter asks as they walk out. During the interval, Peter had managed to convince Loki to keep his commentary to himself, to the benefit of the other members of the audience but not to Peter, who couldn't make out if Loki liked it or not.

"Well, this has shown me again the little regard to their own health Midgardian's have," Loki replies, probably referring to the section where Ed had replicated some of Houdini's tricks, "but they were…impressive, for a Midgardian. Of course, nowhere near the level of a practitioner in Asgard."

"Oh, of course," Peter nods, in mock seriousness. "But, are you glad I took you? C'mon, it's just us. You can tell the truth."

"It was…not displeasing. I will need to conduct some more research in this."

Peter 4, Loki 0.


	7. The Final Activity

_I'm sorry this took so long guys!_

* * *

"Peter, your pizza has arrived."

"On it, thanks Fri!"

Peter runs out of his room, heading into the kitchen where the aroma of sweet, herby tomato and melted mozzarella beckons him. He gathers the boxes into his arms, grinning at Tony who pretends to look interested at his phone.

"How's the sleepover going Pete?" He asks in a tone that is way less nonchalant than he's probably going for and Peter shrugs. Okay, so maybe it was kinda strange choosing a sleepover to be his last activity, especially with a God who's like, a million years older than him, but he _had_ to do it. Tony hadn't been there when he and Loki had been talking about Spring Break, about how it was a chance for kids to hang out with their friends and, you know, relax for a bit. It's a opportunity to have late night sleepovers; eating way too much junk food and watching movies until you physically can't keep your eyes open anymore. Well, turns out Loki didn't have that in Asgard. Not that people in Asgard didn't take breaks, but when it came to chilling you're your friends…Loki apparently didn't have any friends to do that with. Anyone who came close to that were more Thor's friends who just tolerated his little brother. Now that? That hit Peter right in the feels and it was at that moment he realised he didn't need to do anything flashy for their last activity. He was going to show Loki what it was like to hang with your friends on Midgard. That meant; it was time to throw an awesomely epic sleepover.

And step one of an awesomely epic sleepover? Pizza.

"Going great thanks! Now, gotta go before these get cold!"

He runs back to his room, ignoring Tony's totally unnecessary warning to 'slow down before he breaks something' and throws himself to the ground, his precious cargo unloaded in the middle of him, Ned and Loki.

"I have eaten pizza before," Loki comments when Peter practically shoves the box into his hands, Ned's box forgotten in front of him as he watches the exchange. The wonder of being invited to a sleepover with a god still hasn't worn off him yet.

"Yeah, but you've never had it from Greasers and dude, you don't know pizza until you've had a Greasers pizza."

"Greasers," Loki repeats blandly. "What a charming name."

"Don't knock it before you try it."

So maybe the pizza did live up to its namesake, and there would be more than a little oil sunk into the carpet by the end of the night, but they had a secret sauce you could add onto the pizza that was out. of. this. world.

…Huh. Maybe it _was_ run by aliens.

Loki delicately takes a bit of his pizza (a veggie supreme with the famous sauce) and his eyes widen slightly.

Hey, it was famous for a reason.

"Told you man, never judge a pizza from its grease," Peter says, clapping Loki on the shoulder. "C'mon Ned, let's eat. We're gonna need our energy."

* * *

The next item on their awesomely epic sleepover itinerary is a classic.

Mario Kart.

Since Tony gave him his own room at the compound, Peter's noticed that the man occasionally sneaks gifts into it when he's away. Sometimes it's something small, like a packet of Peter's favourite sweets (gummy worms), and sometimes it's a lot bigger. No matter what it is, whenever Peter's asked about it, Tony just replies it was something he 'randomly saw and thought Peter might like' and quickly changes the subject. It's pretty sweet, and even though Tony spending money on him always makes him feel a little weird, he can't deny the Switch is awesome.

"I want the purple one, he looks wily."

"Well, you know what he says…," Peter looks to Ned and in unison, they cry "Waluigi numba one!"

It sends them into a fit of giggles, while Loki looks on with a bewildered expression. Once the pair of them have calmed down and both tried and failed to explain just what was so funny to Loki, they choose their own characters and the game begins.

Every competition they've had so far, Loki has been able to win. This time, however, Peter has a feeling it's not going to go the same way. This time, he's up against Ned. Ned's a beast at Mario Kart, him and Toad getting first in nearly every match they've played, and even after he gets the hang of the controllers, Loki never gets close to him.

So, of course, he begins to cheat.

First, he tries distraction, making bits of their leftover food float in front of Ned. Ned just chomps on them mid-air when they get close enough. After that failure, things get a bit more physical, with 'accidental' nudges, that eventually forces Peter to sit between them and use his own strength to counter the nudges that are now directed at him to hit Ned by extension. Peter expects Loki to get frustrated and quit, but instead he just gets the same sort of calm focus he got during Space Attack. At the end of the session, when the best Loki has reached is second, he holds out a hand to Ned, which, after a friendly tap, he takes.

"You are a worthy competitor," he compliments.

"T-thanks," Ned stammers out. Peter thinks he looks close to never washing his hand again.

(If he's a little insulted that Loki's never said something like that to _him_ , well, he's not about to ruin Ned's moment.)

After Mario Kart, it's time to do the obligatory movie watch coupled with some building of the Lego Death Star. Peter figures Lord of the Rings will keep Loki busy enough so that he and Ned can build in peace, but it turns out that he's pretty handy with the death star, using his magic to find the bits they need so they don't always need to search for it. He doesn't see the point of it, which is fair enough really, but the fact that he's helping them is something that'll definitely go in the final edit. Occasionally, he'll get a little magic happy and fill in a section when Peter and Ned have their eyes focused on the film, but he dutifully unpieces it when they remind him that just building it easily is ' _definitely_ not the point'.

Normally, with enough food and energy drinks, Peter and Ned can last way into the early hour of the morning, but it's been a hectic semester for both of them. Therefore, just as the group have reached Lothlórien, Ned is snoring quietly upon the nest of blankets and pillows they'd arranged because, despite what Tony jokingly said, there was no such thing as being too old to build a pillow fort. Peter turns down the volume and slides the mess of Lego pieces to the side to be dealt with in the morning as Loki watches on.

"Is it time to retire now?"

Peter shrugs. "If you're tired, sure. If you're not, then we could make a hot chocolate or something?"

Peter expects Loki to pass on the offer but to his surprise, the God nods. Quietly, they sneak into the kitchen, where FRIDAY has set the lights onto dim, so there's a pleasant, orange glow.

"So, how was your first sleepover?" Peter asks, tapping his finger against the top of his smiling lip when he notices Loki's foam moustache.

Loki quickly rubs it away, but his reply takes more consideration. "It was…enjoyable. Similar to what I've heard it like in Asgard but less…Asgardian, I suppose. Your friend, I like him."

"You would," Peter says, a small grin on his face, and at Loki's raised eyebrow he elaborates with, "You like anyone who fawns over you."

"I appreciate anyone who shows me the respect I deserve," Loki replies, but the teasing glint in his eye makes Peter laugh. They silently drink more of their hot chocolate, before Peter asks;

"How was this? Like, everything. Did you seriously enjoy it, apart from the sleepover?"

Loki takes one more considering sip.

"The library was charming and introduced me to Midgardian literature, which is surprisingly imaginative and engaging. The theme park was a death trap, but with redeeming qualities that permit its existence. The park was quaint, if a little dull, apart from those beasts. The magic show was…infuriating," he grimaces. Peter knows for a fact that he's still not managed to figure out a couple of tricks, despite extensive research using both books and the internet. "This sleepover…it has shown me what it's like to have friends."

No, Peter's not crying. _You're_ crying. He quickly wipes away a stray tear, hides a sniff behind his mug, and offers Loki a tremulous smile.

"Well hey, I'd call that a success."

Perhaps it's because it feels like they're in their own little bubble, away from the outside world and the prying eyes of the suit, but Loki gives Peter the gentlest, fondest smile he's ever received from the often-cold God.

"As would I."

Peter feels his cheeks heat as he ducks his head. "You know, I think we'll have definitely fixed your cred with this. There'll be no reason to keep you house-bound anymore."

To Peter's confusion, Loki's smile disappears.

"Peter, I believe there is something I ought to tell you."

"What?"

"I am not staying on Midgard."

"Your…what?"

"Midgard is not my home," Loki explains quietly. "Even with this, me remaining here will likely cause much upheaval. It would not be wise for me to stay here. I have considered travelling for a while now and I believe that is the right path for me. Go somewhere where I do not have a reputation to begin with. There is a lot I have yet to learn and discover."

Peter…well, he's hurt, there's no denying it, but…he gets it. "You'll…you'll come back right? To visit? And not like, in 10 years because it's 1 minute for you but soon, you know, so you can tell me all about where you've been and see more of what Earth, I mean Midgard, has to offer, because there's a lot more cool places I could take you and-"

"Breathe Peter," Loki instructs. "You would truly wish for me to come back?"

"Well, yeah," Peter says. "It's like you said, we're friends."

"I did not say that exactly," he starts off with, but even without Peter having to give him a Look, he continues with, "but that doesn't mean it's not true."

A warm feeling in his chest, Peter asks, "When are you going? You'll at least stay to see the video go live, right? You can look over it before it's released."

"Of course, I will be watching it. I won't have you make an utter mockery of me," Loki replies with a faux pompous attitude.

"Well, of course, we wouldn't want that, would we?" Peter says, mimicking Loki's accent, which immediately sends him into giggles that Loki matches with a laugh of his own. As the pair of them quieten down, Loki regards Peter more seriously.

"You are a good man, Peter Parker. Midgard is lucky to have you. Now, it is time for you to retire."

Peter accepts the diversion, and complains, "But I'm not tired!"

"Peter, Boss has asked me to inform you he says, 'I can't believe I'm saying this, but listen to Loki, kid. Time for baby spiders to head to bed.'"

Peter groans. Loki and Tony ganging up on him had never been part of the plan.

* * *

 _Honestly, as fun as this was to write at some points, this has been a real struggle to get out. Thank you for all the support you guys gave me though, it means so, so much!_


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